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Mexico considering legal action against Elon Musk for linking president to drug cartels
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday that her government is considering pursuing legal action against US billionaire Elon Musk for alleging she is connected to drug cartels.
Mexico has been at the center of global attention following a military operation Sunday that resulted in the death of the leader of the New Generation Jalisco Cartel (CJNG), Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho,” and the wave of violence that followed in several parts of the country.
“We are considering whether to pursue some kind of legal action. The lawyers are reviewing it. But what matters to me is what the people say, and the vast majority of the public recognizes the work of the armed forces and the work we are doing every day,” Sheinbaum said during her daily press conference.
Through his social media company X, Musk said that Sheinbaum was “just saying what her cartel bosses tell her to say” after a video resurfaced on social media showing the president criticizing US operations against suspected drug boats.
“What matters to us is the Mexican people — their opinion, their recognition, their criticism. Listening to them and always responding, especially to the most vulnerable,” said Sheinbaum, addressing Musk.
Since the rise of the ruling Morena party in 2018 and the election of then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, popularly known as AMLO, the Mexican government has vowed to move away from direct military confrontation against organized crime — a strategy implemented during the administration of former President Felipe Calderon in 2006 known as the “war on drugs.”
“Hugs, not bullets” was AMLO’s motto to distance himself from his predecessor’s public security strategy, which some critics and analysts argue failed to provide security for the Mexican people and instead resulted in an exponential rise in violence and the expansion of criminal power.
Since then, critics of AMLO and now President Sheinbaum have denounced the ruling party’s motto and security strategy, accusing it of creating a safe haven for drug cartels. Sheinbaum’s political opposition has consistently accused her of having ties to cartels due to her government’s inability to curb cartel-related violence.
Musk’s comment came just after the end of El Mencho’s nearly 30-year reign over one of the hemisphere’s largest criminal organizations and the violent acts committed by alleged cartel members against national security forces.
In total, 30 alleged cartel members were killed in the weekend operation along with 25 National Guard officers and a prison guard.
“This absurd claim of a narco-government — if it was absurd before, it is even more so now. It collapses under its own weight. They don’t even know what to invent anymore. Honestly, it’s almost laughable to read it,” Sheinbaum added.
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